America's Unique Deaf Stories; Established 1996; 23rd year

2019/03/14

DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – March 14, 2019

— a non-sign language that always fascinates sign linguists

For some reason the Nicaraguan non-Sign Language hasfascinated sign language linguists over the years.It first attracted notice in the late eighties andthen from time to time since then. Non-Sign Language?The deaf people of Nicaragua communicate via bodylanguage and gestures since there was no officialNicaraguan Sign Language at that time.

— hearing then deaf then hearing then deaf

Hawkeye, in the comic books, started as a hearingcharacter, but over the years the cartoonist madehim deaf, then again hearing and then again deaf.Fantasy? Yes. Realistic? No.

— shop talk sometimes hard for deaf to follow

When hearing people discuss work issues at a placeof employment, their language shifts towardsshop abbreviations and shop lingo with shop talkthrown in. Even with interpreters it can be difficultfor the deaf to follow – nothing to do with lack ofknowledge but much to do with not seeing these wordscome up every day, all the time!